Oak Park and River Forest are full of educated and informed citizen voters. Through our collective votes and voices, we have elected a capable body to steward our almost 150-year-old high school, our District 200 high school board. We have elected this board to make the decision to reconfigure and build various fields at the high school that will benefit our children as well as the community at large.
We have empowered this board to make the decision to approve Project 2 that will benefit our children as well as the community at large. With the needs so clearly documented and supported, the decision to move forward with Project 2 is straightforward. In fact, to make sure all stakeholders were heard, beginning in 2016, years of public comment and input were gathered into the Imagine Project. The Imagine Project findings were accepted by the board in November of 2018.
It is from this community input and directive to the board that Project 1 was successfully completed, and Project 2 is next. Project 2 will be expensive, but we have elected this board to make this decision.
Last spring, the board that we elected heard, among other things, of how the century-old physical education (PE) spaces (the areas to be addressed by Project 2) no longer serve the students at OPRF and how Title IX and ADA compliance has been a struggle for decades.
The Project 2 plan is reasonable. I encourage anyone seeking answers or details about Project 2 to go to the source of factual and unbiased information at OPRF’s website instead of relying on individual, narrowly focused opinions.
At this site, the Imagine process and recent powerful testimonials from current teachers regarding how Project 2 will impact the high school community are detailed.
Form your own impression of facilities Project 2 will improve by attending a tour the high school offers.
The Imagine Project is what our community created. The D200 board that we elected should put that plan into action by voting to approve Project 2.
Laura Minnis
River Forest
